Most important fruits/veges?

So I've had my baby green cheek for about a month - all is well, what a sweet bird, happy and healthy, but I do have a question about his nutrition.

He primary eats Harrison's High Potency pellets. He took to them right away and eats plenty, so I am not worried about that.

Harrison's says supplementing is not necessary, but I have read elsewhere that it can be a good idea.
Regardless of whether or not it is nutritionally necessary, I think feeding my bird other foods will be beneficial to his mental health - it has got to get boring eating the same pellets all the time!

I allow him to sparingly indulge in some "human" food, like a nibble of my oatmeal, or a bite of the cookie I'm eating, etc. I understand parrots should not be eating salt, sugar or dairy so I keep those to the rare nibble.

So, any certain fruits/veges that would be the best to supplement with? He loves most fruits, so that is not a problem, but I have yet to find a vege he will eat - though I haven't tried many. He seemed to dismiss raw carrot, cooked kale and cooked asparagus.

First turn the items around: Veggies and Fruits with the volume represent by Veggies. Commonly the darker Greens to lighter Greens. I will let other put names to them.

The general belief today is that the Veggies and Fruits represent the majority of the offering! The term 'Chop' should be something that you are seeking to create the above. Also, remember to target Human Grade, Natural, Fresh Foods!

The dry offering should also be Human Grade and processed in a Human Grade facility - one term requires the other to be used! This group can be a mix with Pellets or separately, I am seeing it both ways. The mix is a combination of seeds (not SunFlower) grains and nuts (but not Peanuts) with dry pasta, pellets, and other dry items like dried fruits.

The goal is a very well rounded diet that is much like what your Parrot would see in the wild, but much better quality!

Try hanging up wet kale in the cage. Sometimes birds will bathe with it, which is one step towards getting them to eat it Also, peppers and sweet potato have vitamin A, which a lot of parrots can be deficient in.

Also, blueberries are great for antioxidants and very sweet. They're my GCC's favorite (she'd gorge herself on nothing but blueberries if we let her LOL)

Yes I am also a firm believer that a good, healthy, well-rounded diet including fruits and veggies is essential to parrot nutrition! Pellets are a great base, in my opinion. Some owners will offer pellets for their birds all day, and then at specific times (morning and night) offer a 'chop' -- a mix of safe, human grade foods (veggies, fruit, grains and beans and dry ingredients like oats) to feed to their parrots.

I recently made this thread about my last chop batch, be sure to check it out I explain everything I do and what it involves! This way my birds get a bunch of different foods and I don't have to spend a lot of time preparing! Usually people will combine their frozen (thawed in the fridge) chop with fresh chopped veggies and fruits every day to give them that variety. Hope this helps

Also keep in mind the foods that birds should NEVER have: Avocado, Rhubarb, Onion, Garlic, chocolate, alcohol

Just a few quick points;

As money colors as possible with green being what he gets most of.

Peppers are excellent and most birds seem to take to them pretty well!

Offer them in as many ways and shapes and textures as possible.

Try sprouts

If your bird is older than 6 months, not currently molting, breeding, sick, or otherwise stressed, you should switch to Harrison's lifetime as the extra energy provided by high potency can do more harm than good.

Try offing them as toys rather than as food.

There are tons of threads on diet around here and all over the Internet; go crazy!


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Thanks for the advice and suggestions!

I see peppers are a commonly suggested food- any particular kind? Common bell peppers, or are we talking other varieties?

Peppers are a great source of vitamins AND they're easy to offer.
Common wisdom is that parrots have such poor taste and smell that hot peppers really excite and stimulate them. And they're very healthy (lots of good green and great nutrents)! So I give the Rickeybird lots! The only downside... when he eats a pepper, then preens, then wants to cudddle, it's a very incendiary experience.
I buy several kinds...
Poblanos, to stuff the end between the bars tightly (above a perch) so the Rbird can nibble at his leisure.
Jalapenos and Serranos, to toss into the cage's snack-bowl, to trick him into entering so I can shut the door. There's no such thing as a chile that isn't good for them. If he absolutely does NOT want to go back into his cage, a big fat Anaheim will always do the trick.
I posted a video of the bird eating one in the thread about beak flavors, and you can hear me sneezing!

About Harrison's... I feed High Potency, and have for about 25 years, on DR. HARRISON's advice. Sage has me worried. I am suspicious of big business. I'm checking with my vet. A previous vet agreed with High Potency, but... I'm going to check again!

Well always take the advice of a vet over my advice

High potency is a higher energy food, and in general we try to limit the excess energy in their diets. It could be that Rickybird has a good reason to be on it, or it could be that the extra energy is leading to extra grumpiness, etc.

Remember the thread recently where a GCC was shaking pretty constantly and had been diagnosed with "chronic anxiety"? I suggested that the owner cut out fruit (excess sugar) and only feed veggies for fresh food, and switch from high potency to lifetime. Her bird who had been shaking for 3 years (if I remember the age right) stopped shaking within a week.

Harrison's is a finely tuned product. The lifetime version is great for 90% of situations. Birds who have a REASON to need high potency pellets such as sick birds, birds going through a rehoming process, breeding, molting, or other situation where extra energy is needed do really well with them but in most birds the extra energy can cause the same sort of problems as the extra energy in a seed diet.


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SilverSage said:

Remember the thread recently where a GCC was shaking pretty constantly and had been diagnosed with "chronic anxiety"? I suggested that the owner cut out fruit (excess sugar) and only feed veggies for fresh food, and switch from high potency to lifetime. Her bird who had been shaking for 3 years (if I remember the age right) stopped shaking within a week.

Click to expand...

I remember this!! Excellent advice on your part. Fruit is great, but in moderation!

Sage, I *DO* recall that sugar incident. You're one of my heroes here.
I'll ask my current vet. Patagonians are weird conures. Such a strange lifestyle/burrowng/all that stuff.
OH WOW, I just got a reply to my email... the vet says High Potency is good because Rb is thin, even for a Patagonian. Keel rating 2.5 on a 1-5 scale, 1 being emaciated and 5 is obese, 3 the best. He says lightweight and extemely active species can profit from the High, but any bird of average or overweight, for sure, the Regular. Rb just doesn't care much about food, and is always on the go. So we have an answer. I'll start emphasizing that when I tell people Rb is on the High. Harrison's site recommends the High year around "for conures, lories, quakers, cockatiels, lovebirds, doves", and my vet doesn't think that blanket statement should be made. Wow!

Well there you go; he has a reason! It truly is a great product when used correctly!


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This explains a little of the GCC in the wild and what they would eat. Green Cheek Conure Diet | PetGreenCheekConure.com

It promotes fruit above all else and explains "Fruits are vital as the natural sugars help to feed a Green Cheek’s high metabolism and brain. Quite literally these birds are so active and they require large amounts of fresh fruit daily to keep their little bodies fueled".

In our homes our birds are unable to burn those sugars, expend that energy as they would in the wild and as Silversage says above it can have a detrimental effect on their health. There are also sugars in the root veggies as well as Vitamin A, depending on amount of activity possibly enough. I cannot see that your bird needs High Potency IMO.

If you give human treats they get to like them, bad habits are best not started.

GaleriaGila, I'm going to guess when you add peppers that they are dried. ? I know my conure has them mixed in his seed, but I also will give him a slice of fresh red bell pepper.

Our peppers are almost always fresh...
The hotter, the more appealing, it seems, as I said earlier.